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Eve In California

Eve In California image Eve In California image
Parent Issue
Day
17
Month
June
Year
1976
OCR Text

Tom Hayden has done more for this country out of office than most politicians have accomplished as office holders, according to Hayden’s senate campaign. 

 

The 35-year-old Hayden is opposing incumbent Sen. John Tunney for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on June 8. Tunney is seeking re-election for a second term. 

 

Hayden’s political work during the past decade has had a substantial impact on the present political climate in the U.S.

 

Raised in a working-0class Catholic home in Royal Oak, Hayden became the Editor of the Michigan Daily at the U of M. He drafted the Port Huron Statement, which launched Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), in 1962. He was a civil rights and poor community organizer for several years. 

 

As a leader of the anti-war movement, Hayden helped organize the street demonstrations against the war at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. After that demonstration erupted into a police riot, he was indicted as one of the Chicago 8 for conspiracy to cross state lines to incise a riot. The defendants were acquitted despite the combined efforts of the intelligence community, the prosecution, and presiding Judge Julius Hoffman. 

 

After the trail, Hayden settled in Berkeley and worked to elect radicals to the Berkeley City Council. He then moved to Santa Monica, where he resumed anti-war work. Hayden founded the Indochina Peace Campaign, which successfully brought anti-war perspectives to many formerly “hawk” strong-holds like Jackson and Muskegon, Michigan. 

 

The IPC shunned street demonstrations, concentrating instead of sustaining lobbying in Congress to cut off aid to South Vietnam and to implement the Paris Peace Accords. Through the IPC, Hayden met and married actress-activist Jane Fonda.

 

The IPC’s success in non-college, non-leftist middle America astounded Hayden, who had long believed that the “silent majority” was firmly wedded to militarism abroad and racism at home. Hayden likes to quote from the Holly Near song about the IPC’s work: “But I saw the friendly people come and turn my head around.” 

 

 When the war ended, Hayden decided to run for the Senate, expanding on the network of local organizations through California and bringing anti-corporation politics to the electoral arena. 

 

Hayden has won two previous long shots. He was acquitted in the Chicago Conspiracy Trial, after many longtime political] allies urged him to go underground to escape being railroaded into prison. And he made a significant contribution to ending the war in Vietnam. The question is: Can the radical-identified Hayden win the hearts and minds of California’s Democrats away from John Tunney, a liberal by American political standards, and son of a former world heavyweight boxing champion? 

 

“It’s definitely a longshot,” commented one Hayden campaign staffer. 

 

The polls bear this out. When Hayden announced his candidacy, he polled support from 13 percent of California’s Democrats, compared with about 65 percent for Tunney. Now, after months of hard campaigning, having won some impressive endorsements, Hayden polls 30 percent to Tunney’s 50 percent. 

 

Hayden staffers are quick to point out that most of Tummey’s support is “soft”--that is, it can be won away. They cite polls which show that Tunney’s approval rating among Democrats has slipped from 65 percent to 50 percent over the last year. They also like to quote a poll which showed that if Hayden wins the primary, he could run neck-and-neck against the entire field of candidates for the Republican nomination.

 

Hayden’s positions are about as far left as possible in mid 70’s Democratic Party politics. His campaign is based on curtailing the economic and political power of multinational corporations. 

 

“We’re not talking about lowering the expectations of those who have never gotten their fair share of the nation’s wealth,” says Hayden. “We’re talking about lowering the profits and privileges of the few who have had too much for too long.” 

 

Energy corporations top Hayden’s list of offenders and he is quick to point out that 85 percent of Tunney’s campaign funds come from corporate contributors, while his own campaign is financed by “average people’s hard earned nickels and dimes.” Hayden backs strict price and profit controls of the energy multinationals, while Tunney’s voted to deregulate the price of natural gas. Hayden supports the Nuclear Safeguards Initiative, Tunney opposes it. 

 

Other Hayden positions include: support for full employment program, equal rights for women and gays, community control of police, support for the United Farm Workers and American Indian Movement, outlawing CIA covert operations, defeating Senate Bill One, and implementation of massive tax reform. 

 

"Our current tax system." says Hayden. "allows the very rich to escape $15 billion in taxes each year. Oil monopolies pay less than 8 percent of their income in taxes, while the corporate tax rate is 48 percent. We must close the massive loopholes. A just tax system could provide billions for public service,

 

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Jobs and other pressing domestic needs.” 

 

Hayden strongly supports national health insurance. Tunney’s wavering on this issue has cost him a good deal of support among labor unions and many working Democrats. When elected, Tunney pledged to support national health insurance. Then, last year, he voted against it. 

 

Hayden’s program centers on what he calls “economic democracy,” as “the only alternative to the twin perils of corporate control and government bureaucracy.” He favors worker and consumer members of corporation boards, the establishment of publicly-controlled banks, utilities, and railroads, and support for cooperatives. 

 

Hayden’s economic program has drawn criticism from the Left for what critics charge is “marshmallow socialism” 

“Your ideas could only be implemented under socialism, but you refuse to use that word,” one resident of the Haight Ashbury said during a Hayden appearance there in march. 

 

Hayden shot back, “You can call my program whatever you want. I call it ‘economic democracy,’ Fidel Castro didn’t win by calling himself a socialist. That came later. When he started out with two dozen followers in the mountains, his program sounded a lot like mine.” 

 

Hayden has won the support of prominent progressive Democrats like black Congressman Ron Dellums (Berkeley) and the California Democratic Council (CDC), which endorsed Hayden three-to-one over Tunney. The CDC is the McGovern wing of the California Democratic Party. 

 

Hayden believes that many California Democrats are angry at Tunney’s constant waffling on the issues. “I sometimes feel like I'm running against a vacancy in the Senate,” Hayden quips. 

 

Tunney is confident he can beat Hayden, but that confidence has waned somewhat in recent months. Hayden’s determined campaign is forcing Tunney to spend more time and money seeking renomination than he had hoped. 

 

While many California Democrats are angry at Tunney’s breach of promise on many issues, it remains unclear how much of that anger will express itself in votes for Hayden 

 

Tom Hayden believes that the minority radical opinions of the late 1960’s now represent a more mainstream political view. Retired Presidential aspirant Ford Harris garnered a consistent 7 to 10 percent among Democrats, espousing a program similar to Hayden’s. 

 

The American Revolution had about 30 percent popular support. Hayden staffers believe that a 30 percent showing for Hayden on June 8 would put him in an excellent position to win future electoral contests. 

 

If, and probably when, Hayden loses to Tunney, he pledges to remain in the Democratic Party to fight for the issues around which he has built this campaign. 

 

1976 may not be the year for Senator Tom Hayden, but this writer would be surprised if Hayden does not someday win an important national-office.